Long Island Catholic group is angry, frustrated with Bishop Barres, Diocese of Rockville Centre over response to Trump deportation campaign

Pope Leo XIV and other Catholic Church leaders have denounced President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign, but anger and disappointment has spread in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, where some immigration advocates say the bishop has not spoken publicly enough about the issue.

The advocates, parishioners on Long Island, say they're done waiting for Bishop John Barres to act. They have started a grassroots effort seeking to educate and mobilize their fellow churchgoers throughout both counties in opposition to an immigration crackdown they say is separating families and terrorizing communities. 

"We've been very disappointed that he hasn’t addressed the policies, we are very disappointed that he hasn't spoken up," said Richard Koubek of Dix Hills, a former public policy advocate at Catholic Charities who is helping to lead the effort. "We've reached a dead end. We're sort of moving on from him. This is the moment of urgency ... and we're not going to wait anymore."

The new group — dubbed Catholics Welcome Immigrants — is promoting a "tool kit" for pastors and priests that includes everything from ideas for homilies to prayers for immigrants to instructions on how to create parish discussion groups that lead to action. They say the effort is based on the teachings of Catholicism that mandate Christians help the weak, the poor and the vulnerable.

They hope to start training parishioners this summer on how to plan prayer services, publish bulletin inserts, reach out to new immigrants and advocate for "just" government policies. They launched the campaign after collecting the signatures of 520 local Catholics from nearly 90 parishes in February and March for a petition asking Barres to meet and to speak out on the issue. He has failed to do either, Koubek said.

Barres, who leads 1.2 million Catholics in one of the largest dioceses in the nation, declined to be interviewed by Newsday. But in a statement, the diocese said the bishop has consistently called "for comprehensive immigration reform and compassionate care for migrants."

"He speaks often in homilies and addresses to gatherings of the faithful and clergy about the need for engagement and outreach for our Hispanic brothers and sisters and frequently visits with immigrant communities," the statement said. "He has also expressed a deep appreciation for how our immigrant communities uplift and inspire the Catholic global missionary spirit on Long Island."

The diocese’s 131 parishes, along with Catholic Charities, Catholic Health hospitals, Catholic schools and the Tomorrow's Hope student financial aid program, "are second to none in caring for all peoples, and in a special way, for struggling immigrants," the statement said.

In one homily during Holy Week in March, Barres said: "We pray for immigrants and refugees, and for comprehensive immigration reform."

Barres' approach of focusing on outreach without delving into deportation policy is supported by some local Catholics who believe he is in a difficult position. They contend U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is simply enforcing the law and that the Biden administration's immigration policies amounted to "open borders," created chaos and cost cities such as New York billions of dollars.

Immigration advocates say masked ICE agents are separating parents from their children, arresting some people who have legal status, arresting others with no warrants and deporting many hard-working residents who have lived here for decades and become part of the community.

ICE has denied it is acting improperly and says people it is deporting are here illegally and in some cases have committed violent crimes.

Koubek and others praised the diocese's outreach work to immigrants, but said those efforts do not address the deportation crackdown, which advocates say is the root cause of much of the immigrant community's suffering. "Our immigrant friends are in the biggest crisis of their lives and he is silent," Michele Boccia, who attends St. Patrick's parish in Bay Shore and is one of the organizers of the new effort, said of Barres.

The diocese said the bishop played a key role in drafting a statement put out Nov. 13 by the New York State Catholic Conference. The statement said immigration enforcement should be done in "a humane manner that does not target the hard-working and law-abiding; that does not permit the wanton and unnecessary separation of families; and that does not rely on campaigns of fear that cripple whole communities."

A day earlier, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the official umbrella group of bishops nationwide, issued its own statement condemning "indiscriminate mass deportation."

While the diocese has highlighted Barres' part in drafting the state bishops' letter, Boccia said, "he didn't follow through with it. We would like to have it printed in the bulletins" distributed weekly in parishes "and have it be part of a discussion, so it's not just something written and put away in a drawer.

"We as Catholics feel that we cannot sit back and not do anything," added Boccia, a certified Catholic chaplain. "As Christians, we're called to care for the vulnerable and care for those in need, and that's exactly the example that Jesus showed us."

The advocates are especially mystified, they say, because at the start of Barres' tenure heading the Diocese of Rockville Centre nearly a decade ago, he pledged to make outreach to Latinos a priority, even growing emotional as he spoke about the topic in an interview with Newsday. Barres speaks Spanish, including in homilies at Masses. 

Latinos make up about one-third of Catholics on Long Island, church leaders said, and at least 36% nationwide, according to the Pew Research Center. They are the fastest-growing group in the Catholic Church nationwide. Most people arrested by immigration authorities on Long Island during the Trump administration have been men from heavily Catholic Central American countries such as El Salvador, Newsday reported in April.

Speaking up against mass deportations

Trump says the deportation campaign is targeting dangerous criminals, though Newsday has reported that less than 5% of immigrants held at the Nassau County jail under that county's partnership with ICE had convictions for violent crimes. Nearly 60% had no criminal convictions or pending charges at all. 

The Welcome Immigrants petition asks Barres to "publicly oppose the cruelty of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in our communities" and "advocate for policies rooted in mercy, justice, and the Gospel message of love."

It proposes that both the state and national bishops’ statements be published in all parish bulletins and that pastors deliver homilies about them.

"Increasingly, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are cruelly violating fundamental tenets of Catholic social teaching and core civil rights guaranteed by our Constitution," the petition states.

In September, the pope called the deportation campaign "inhuman" and said "the church cannot stay silent before injustice." Some bishops around the country have held Masses at ICE jails, while others have accompanied asylum-seekers to court hearings. In April, three cardinals appeared on "60 Minutes" and criticized the deportation campaign.

Advocates say they have been pushing Barres for months to follow their lead. Two retired priests who have long worked with Latinos, the Rev. William Brisotti and Msgr. John Cervini, sent a letter to Barres in March along with the petition asking to meet with him. In the letter, they called the crackdown "the worst assault on immigrant rights in the United States since the Japanese were placed in internment camps during World War II."

They added that "a number" of priests published the state bishops’ letter last November in their parish bulletins, but "most did not."

Barres did not meet with the two priests but sent them a letter thanking them for their work with Latinos and noting the diocese’s outreach work with Hispanics. He did not address the request that he take on Trump’s immigration policies. In an interview, Brisotti noted that Barres’ office sent out the state bishops’ letter to all pastors in November and encouraged them to share it with parishioners.

"It’s up to us to move the ball now," Brisotti said, referring to priests and lay people.

'We can't wait for his leadership'

The tool kit that Catholics Welcome Immigrants developed is an updated version of one previously created by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. It includes a brief history of immigration in the United States viewed from Gospel and Catholic perspectives; core biblical and Catholic teachings on immigration; and discussion questions and activities for parishes to address immigration policies.

It remains to be seen if parishes will employ the tool kit, which the group plans to email to all pastors on June 30. While pastors have substantial autonomy, they ultimately report to the bishop. They must also weigh the reactions of the people in the pews and their potential donations during Sunday Mass collections, advocates noted. Long Islanders, including many Catholics among them, overall voted for Trump in 2024. Nationwide he won 55% of the Catholic vote in 2024, according to the Pew Research Center.

Some Long Island Catholics believe Barres is taking the proper approach on immigration.

"I personally believe, as a Catholic, that the Catholic Church should not speak out against" Trump’s campaign, said Barrett Psareas, vice president of the Nassau County Civic Association. "If there's wrongdoing, fine, go right ahead" and criticize it. "But they're only following the laws, from what we're being told."

Others think Barres, too, is in a difficult position as he must weigh politically diverse constituencies.

"I think I would not want the job of the bishop," said the Rev. Robert Smith, pastor of St. Hugh of Lincoln Roman Catholic Church in Huntington, a heavily Latino parish. "Because I think he's got a lot of things to balance, and I trust that he does that with a sincerity of heart and with the best way that he possibly can."

Still, Smith said he has preached about the deportation campaign at Masses when the Scriptures lent themselves to that, and he would not oppose an effort by the Welcome group in his parish. He noted that the public letters written by the bishops along with Leo’s comments give parish priests an easy way to raise the topic.

Leaders of Catholics Welcome Immigrants said they decided to create the tool kit after other efforts failed to prompt more public action from Barres. In November, advocates held a vigil outside St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre asking Barres to take a more active stand on immigration. Around the same time, about 175 people sent him postcards with their own handwritten messages.

"I’ve kind of been outraged since" the ICE campaign started early last year, said Jim Hickey, a parishioner at St. Brigid’s parish in Westbury. "We were hoping that the bishop would realize these cruel enforcement tactics are in stark contrast to the gospel message ... of inclusion. But we can't wait for his leadership."

In frustration, Hickey said he wrote to all the pastors in the diocese’s 131 parishes last summer asking them to spotlight the deportation issue. Only about 20 responded to him, all supportive of his message, he said.

Jim Morgo, of Bayport, a parishioner at Our Lady of the Snow Roman Catholic Church in Blue Point, said he came up with the petition idea after attending numerous anti-ICE rallies — and seeing almost no Catholic priests there, not to mention the bishop, though plenty of nuns. It contrasted with his memories of the Vietnam War and Civil Rights protests of the 1960s and ‘70s when many clergy participated, he added.

"I've just given up" on the bishop taking a leading role on the immigration issue, he said.